With Windows 10 ARM64 Preview running on an M1 Mac, benchmark scores show Apple’s computer crushing Microsoft’s Surface Pro X with SQ2 chip.
According to a new report from ZDNet, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) virtualization engineer has shown what Windows 10 on Arm could be like if Microsoft licensed its Arm-based OS to the public rather than just to Windows 10 manufacturers. And in a twist that might seem surprising, Apple’s M1 Mac computers run Windows 10 faster than Microsoft’s own Surface Pro X.
Who said Windows wouldn’t run well on #AppleSilicon? It’s pretty snappy here 😁. #QEMU patches for reference: https://t.co/qLQpZgBIqI pic.twitter.com/G1Usx4TcvL
— Alexander Graf (@_AlexGraf) November 26, 2020
With some adjustments to the free and open-source virtualizer, QEMU, Alexander Graf explained that the test was done using the Windows 10 ARM64 Insider Preview and Hypervisor framework. This means it isn’t running through an emulator, but native code. Graf shared a Task Manager screenshot as well as a link to the patches that were made. Other developers made use of this information to install Windows 10 on their M1 Macs and shared benchmark comparisons.
Using this setup, Apple’s M1 managed to hit around 1,300 in single-core on Geekbench 5, and about 5,400 or so in multi-core. Microsoft’s Surface Pro X, on the other hand, pitches in at about 800 and 3,000 respectively, so it’s not just a bit slower, but a lot slower at running Microsoft’s own OS.
Obviously that’s a tad embarrassing for Microsoft, but then the M1 is a cutting-edge piece of silicon, and perhaps more to the point, the results underline this, and how far forward Apple has pushed with this chip which powers its new MacBooks and Mac mini.
